Seminary was fun this morning. I started out showing a gift I'd received from Scott, an Ellensburg blue agate that he'd hid in a super nice thick winter sock. I told them about another time he'd hid a stone in some socks at Christmas for me: my engagement ring on Dec 24, 1979. I told them how I grew up in Wyo and I even drew a map of Wyo (not hard) and showed them where Laramie is. I showed them an agate and some quartz from around Laramie. Then a rock we picked up at a beach near Forks, Washington. Then I pulled out a big guns rock and told them it had a special name. I got out a stand and put on a sign "The first stone" Someone guessed what it was about. So we got into John 8:1-11. So we discussed not judging, and I mentioned the book I'm reading which is hilarious; Baptists at our BBQ and the self righteous characters in that book or movie. We read about tolerance of a sinner but not tolerate the sin. I read to them from a story on ESPN about a football team in Faith, TX that hosted a game against boys from a correctional institute. They had half their audience and cheerleaders cheer for the opposite team. The boys felt cared for and it meant a lot to them.
From there we talked about whether practicing football 2 hours everyday was a type of bondage or not. They decided no, it was choice. Then I asked about piano practicing. They thought it might be a type of bondage. But then I brought up how the only way one has the freedom to sit down and play on the piano is if they have practiced. And we read how decipleship and the truth will make you free. Practicing correct principles gives one the power to do wonderful things. Where as sin or ignorance keeps one from doing or being all they can be.
After discussing this for awhile, I put up the word strip
"Whose Your Daddy"
If you read John chapter 8, you can't help but notice there is quite a bit of discussion about whose children were the church leaders at that time. They thought they were of Abraham. Jesus said no. They thought they were children of God. Jesus said no. He then went on to tell them they are children of the devil for they did not do the works of God or Abraham, love the son of God, and they had murderous thoughts in their hearts.
Of course, we ended with how then the leaders wanted to Stone Jesus but he had somehow dissapeared. Isn't that a great story? We also talked about how in John 6, Jesus is the source of LIving Water and The Bread of Life. In 8 he says he is The LIght of The World, God sent him and before Abraham was, "I Am." cool huh. Get to know your Savior, read the Bible. Its great.

Before I took Karisa in for a chiropractor visit at 4:30 on Tuesday, Jan 6, I had been outside playing fetch with our dog, Bitsy. I did a wild left hand shot that sent the ball onto the roof of our house. So the ball stuck up there much to Bitsy's chagrin. I told her sorry and took her in the house. We were pretty much a winter wonderland with 4 inches of snow on top of frozen ice from an earlier thaw then freeze before the latest snow. After the chiropractor visit (Karisa had a rib out earlier causing chest pain and breathing difficulties) a- and , there was this free stuffed animal by the front door to the chiropractor ( a stuffed stork in a vampire cape with vampire teeth that the chiropractor no longer wanted and which Karisa took) and other errands - bought gas at Safway for 1.68 per gallon and got some bread from the bread outlet store, we came home. A warm wind had picked up. And guess what? The snow on the roof had all melted and the ball was on the ground.
The whole street turned into a slushy waterway. I stepped out and tried to take a picture of the neighbors' Christmas lights reflected in the water on the road. It was pretty, especially when the wind blew. We went from cold - 30 some degrees to 52 in 1/2 hour.
Now all the snow and ice is melted except for the last little bit of our snowman. The wind blew pretty good and we kept hearing knocking and banging of windows - we have the single pane aluminum windows , our house is a '72 house, and we didn't sleep too well Tuesday night.
I picked up a whole lot of branches from the trees off the back yard but nothing too big the next morning. We're just glad we live on a hill and only had 4 inches of snow to melt. We worry about Spokane. But then we found out that the ward preisthood has been called to help in Ellensburg. All roads to Seattle were closed and there was a foot of water in the Perkins Restaraunt with hundreds of stranded trucks.
So that's our experience with this crazy weather. It gives one something to talk about. Almost all my Seminary students still showed up. Monday the church parking lot was very icy. Today it's just wet.